Thornton Flooring unveils state-of-the-art facility, enhancing service and style in Tea

Driving on Interstate-29, it’s hard to miss the sleek, 109,000-square-foot building tucked inside Bakker’s Landing. 

While the spacious outside entices drivers, it’s the modern flooring facility’s services and products inside that draws in customers. 

After breaking ground on a new location in October 2022, Thornton Flooring opened its new doors in March 2024, combining its several former facilities into one. 

“The reality is since probably the mid to late ‘80s, we’ve really been in this area,” owner Matt Thornton said. “We had a Sioux Falls address, but we were no more Sioux Falls than we were Tea. We’ve kind of been a Tea staple the whole time, just now we have a Tea address.” 

Since 1999, Thornton Flooring has been located on the southeast corner of the interchange. Over the years, the company added multiple buildings that functioned as warehouses. The main building was 53,000 square feet, but Thornton said the business had about 130,000 square feet among that and the warehouses. Not all of the space was functional, though, he said. 

“When they see this building, everybody’s like, ‘Wow, what a change,’” Thornton said. “But I remember when we moved into our last building in ‘99 from the building before that and everybody walked in and everybody said, ‘Wow, what a change.” 

Thornton said everything comes with time, and the current building is “amazing,” requiring careful planning over the span of four years. 

Thornton started to design the facility in 2020, starting with the warehouse, “the most important thing for functionality.” As Thornton Flooring added locations in North Sioux City and Rapid City, Thornton said he was able to test out design ideas for the future Tea facility. 

“It has been a constant evolution,” Thornton said. “Every time we’ve done it, we’ve made little tweaks to make it a little bit better and make the sales process more smooth and just make the whole store more functional for us.” 

The new facility implements more sales displays, with three selection suites set towards the back of the showroom. Thornton said designers can hang flooring samples along the suites’ walls to create a storyboard for customers. 

“We’ve had designers come in and spend half a day meeting with clients, just using that as their office,” Thornton said. 

Shannen Schlapkohl, Grand Vision Home’s interior designer, said this type of setup allows for better organization in parts of the designing process. 

“When I envision doing something like that, I just feel like it’s a lot more organized and easier to bring things together rather than piecing things all over the building,” Schlapkohl said. “It’s one place to bring it all together, and to have it so intimate is another thing, too. I just feel like it’s very professional when they can bring that to somebody.” 

Various squares of flooring are displayed in the center of each aisle, which are separated into ceramic tile, laminate, vinyl plank, hardwood and carpet. The centered product signifies stock products, which are stored in the warehouse for customers to take with them. 

Since opening the new building, Thornton Flooring has also started to sell countertops. Rectangular samples of countertop hang from a wall at the front of the store, and each sample has a QR code in the corner. Customers can then see pictures of a full slab and room scenes. Thornton Flooring’s use of “Roomvo” takes that digital process one step further. 

“You can do that with pretty much any of our products where you can take a picture of your room and then basically put that product into that room, into your picture,” Thornton said. 

Outside of product displays, the new showroom also fosters conversation, with four conference rooms, a training room and multiple meeting nooks that allow Thornton Flooring to host a variety of events. According to Thornton, the facility will house the South Dakota Multi-Housing Association and South Dakota Home Builders Association this fall.

Communication is one of the main functions the new building has facilitated, Thornton said. 

“The nice part is having everybody in one building,” Thornton said. “The communication’s a lot better. We all see each other every day, and if you need something, it’s really easy to just go grab somebody and talk to them.” 

As Thornton Flooring reflects on a recent move and more than 40 years of business, Thornton said its goal has been to “try and take care of people and do things right.” And it has worked. 

“We’ve grown more than anything by word of mouth,” Thornton said. “I mean, we truly value what our customers think of us, so we’re constantly working to be better. Every day we’re trying to be better and trying to do a better job of what we do.” 

Schlapkohl said Thornton Flooring is Grand Vision Home’s go-to for its flooring needs. 

“They’re super easy to work with and the amount of selections that they offer, as you can see, is quite huge, so they can meet any budget,” Schlapkohl said. “Whether it’s someone that’s looking to keep it kind of low cost or someone that’s looking for big-time luxury, they can meet us wherever we need to.” 

Thornton said customer traffic has been good so far. 

“Basically, everything we hear from our customers has been positive. People love the building,” Thornton said. 

And the roughly 75 employees seem to love the building, too. 

“Working in this facility, it’s just extremely comfortable to work out of, and everybody who works here is really proud of it,” Thornton said. “So, I mean, that’s a lot of fun, as people are showing it to people and just seeing everybody happy to be here and be proud of where they work.”